Monday there were several places along the ride that had glass - an inordinate amount.

Tuesday I took my mini brush and pan and cleaned up the one on Canning Bridge (riders the day before had conveniently moved it all to the side so it was OK. Other spots I didn't even try with my dinky little brush - I've tired it before and all I get is a sore back for a few days.

I chanced upon a girl who was stranded with a borrowed CF bike that had a leaking Presta valve (a first for me). I don't have to look at bike parts much these days so it took a good longer than it needed but I managed to get a fresh tube in. (Why are so people capable of changing a tyre and other basics?). Unfortunately for me the chain really needed a decent degreasing and oil so I wound up with a lot of thick grease to take to work. Still the girl was very pleased and that level of appreciation makes the exercise worth while.

This morning there was a strong esterly and, as I have noticed of late, there are far too many riders that head from Causeway to Bell Tower at speedss that are WAAAY to much for the meandering goat track that is the RSP there. Slow down guys.

gretaboy wrote:I have two weeks of holidays (forced by company) in March so cant afford too much time off the bike before hand otherwise you might catch up

woohoo TW - thinking of a big march????

family forced day off tomorrow so no commuting

I'd need a a lot more than those two weeks in March to catch up...think I am pushing the limit in terms of time on the bike. The wife goes back to uni full-time to do a masters - not quite sure yet what new time pressures that will create.

The ride back yesterday afternoon was timed to co-incide the impending rain with my arrival at my old local...that part worked fine. However, rather than it being a brief shower, the rain continued longer than anticipated, so I had to eventually launch myself into the wet. It did ease off a bit closer to home, but I was pretty damp nonetheless.

This morning I had rain and drizzle door to door. The tail end of a rain front passed over my route between my departure at 4:30am and my arrival in the Melb CBD at 5:45am. Slow and careful ride along the Darebin Creek Trail.

Was feeling slightly better, not much mind you, this morning so did the usual 60 k for the morning. Weather was perfect for a ride and the sunrise this morning was very pretty. In fact the sunrises all this week have been pretty.

Had one poofer valve moment when I hit a mound of gravel which was like sand, nearly stacked with a B double going past at the same time. Due to the extra soft gravel mounds on the shoulder I have been riding on the road, which has its own issues due to the semis flying past at 80 k's but it is the lesser of two evils when compared to the dangerous soft gravel. Hopefully the road crews will clear it away when they eventually finish the road works...I am hoping

Ambulance parked in the middle of the road at the start of Ormadale St or whatever it is called, with a bunch of cyclists parked on the footpath so I presume somebody has come off there, hope they are ok. Roads were wet.

Everything felt sore though Not the usual normal tired sore, or burning lactate type sore, more like how you feel when your brother punches you in the arm/thigh when you aren't expecting it. Weird.

Ambulance parked in the middle of the road at the start of Ormadale St or whatever it is called, with a bunch of cyclists parked on the footpath so I presume somebody has come off there, hope they are ok. Roads were wet.

bugger. What time was that? I went past there prob around 6am and it was all clear. I don't try and take that Ormadale corner in the wet. My Rubino Pros are rubbish in the wet once you get off the centre strip of tread.

Ambulance parked in the middle of the road at the start of Ormadale St or whatever it is called, with a bunch of cyclists parked on the footpath so I presume somebody has come off there, hope they are ok. Roads were wet.

bugger. What time was that? I went past there prob around 6am and it was all clear. I don't try and take that Ormadale corner in the wet. My Rubino Pros are rubbish in the wet once you get off the centre strip of tread.

Would have been more like 7-7:30ish. I didn't see anybody lying on the road, so they may have already been loaded up inside.

__PG__ wrote:Windy this morning in Melbourne's north. Had a blustery headwind all the way to work.

Yes, it wasn't pleasant with that headwind this morning.

Yesterday I risked not wearing the booties. No rain but had to clean the road gunk off my white cycling shoes when I got home. Ick. Got tooted by a nuffy who didn't know the road rules and my right to take the lane (bicycle lane dies before an intersection where lots of cars bank up to turn left and I take the lane prior to the lane splitting into two as it is a lot easier dealing with one line of cars instead of two). She of course got a grand total of 50 metres up the road before I passed her as she was stuck in the traffic. What a bummer for her.

This morning I woke up with my calves telling me they were in pain (bordering on cramping). Swimming and stretching didn't ease them overly much and they are still sore now. I think I may have gone for a marathon run in my sleep as they didn't hurt yesterday.

ColinOldnCranky wrote:Monday there were several places along the ride that had glass - an inordinate amount.

Tuesday I took my mini brush and pan and cleaned up the one on Canning Bridge (riders the day before had conveniently moved it all to the side so it was OK. Other spots I didn't even try with my dinky little brush - I've tired it before and all I get is a sore back for a few days.

You are a good soul Colin I've noticed the same thing lately, seems every bridge/underpass I've come past for the last couple of weeks has had glass everywhere. Going to have to add a brush to my burgeoning inventory I think. Went down to Kwinana for a party on the weekend and would you believe every square foot of road and footpath between the station and the house was completely carpeted? Mind you, the way it glints in the sunlight offset all the skid marks nicely I took the Old Faithful hybrid with the grenade proof tyres because I kind of figured it might be an issue but even then was pretty nervous, it was just crunchcrunchcrunch the whole time. They held up though!

Feeling a bit more confident on the new bike now, enough to start trying to keep pace with people overtaking Mornings have been nice, even with the southerly already in, afternoons = hot.

Summernight wrote:This morning I woke up with my calves telling me they were in pain (bordering on cramping). Swimming and stretching didn't ease them overly much and they are still sore now. I think I may have gone for a marathon run in my sleep as they didn't hurt yesterday.

Weird, I've got pretty much the same thing, except its all my legs, and my arms a bit too. Doesn't feel like that "I'm about to get the flu" feeling, but something's not right.

Summernight wrote:This morning I woke up with my calves telling me they were in pain (bordering on cramping). Swimming and stretching didn't ease them overly much and they are still sore now. I think I may have gone for a marathon run in my sleep as they didn't hurt yesterday.

Get some magnesium & potassium into you - it could be that you're a bit low if sweating a bit on your rides and just need a little supplementation. Having nice long soak in a bath with about a kilo of epsom salts will ease things too. Get your epsom salts from the pet produce store rather than a supermarket to avoid the 1000% markup - you may already know this as you ride a horse...

I did my first commute after replacing the headset/stem and downtube shifters on my 25 year old steel beastie with ultegra brifters - OMGosh, what a difference that makes, and since the gearing is indexed, no more slips with the chain not quite on the right cassette sprocket. Looking forward to cranking out this afternoon's commute home, no matter what weather we end up with here in Brissie and i'm so going the long way home and fitting in a river loop...

Summernight wrote:This morning I woke up with my calves telling me they were in pain (bordering on cramping). Swimming and stretching didn't ease them overly much and they are still sore now. I think I may have gone for a marathon run in my sleep as they didn't hurt yesterday.

Get some magnesium & potassium into you - it could be that you're a bit low if sweating a bit on your rides and just need a little supplementation. Having nice long soak in a bath with about a kilo of epsom salts will ease things too. Get your epsom salts from the pet produce store rather than a supermarket to avoid the 1000% markup - you may already know this as you ride a horse...

Thank you. I shall look into it. And yes, the pet produce stores are very handy, although I don't usually have time to pamper myself and have a bath so haven't ever bought bath salts of any sort from anywhere.

The random muscle pain/cramping has happened before (it will go away after a day or two) but I think you're on the money regarding the sweating as the humidity really takes it out of me and it has been horribly humid and hot here for the past days/weeks and I've been sweating buckets.

Yesterday was early start and late finish, so both ends of the commute were done in darkness. The ride home was enlivened by a tropical downpour, fortunately all the lights continued to function throughout. This morning was a late start and therefore the ride was in the real peak hour (for the cars anyway) so it was good to blast past them while they waited for three cycles of traffic lights to cross each intersection. Copped another bucketing for the homeward journey this arvo.

Windy but dry ride back yesterday afternoon.Cool this morning, clear with a bright moon lighting up the Darebin Creek Trail. Not many critters around despite the moon, just one fox darting across the path.

Yesterday afternoon = almost taken out by an illegal attempt by a car to park in the bicycle lane.

This morning was a good commute because I kept up with the fast lady who thrashes me on the hill. I stayed behind her pretty much the whole way so she took the brunt of the headwind and lessened it for me (I wasn't drafting but was close enough for her passage to help break up the wind for some of the time). I actually pushed myself up the hill this morning. I think I was better able to push because my calves are in so much pain that I ignore any further pain. Plus the early morning jog and the stretch prior to riding may have helped. I could barely walk down the stairs.

I think I've worked out what caused the calf pain - I was pushing uphill two days ago on the way home at about 30kph (for a very short time at that speed mind you!!!), sitting in the saddle and was trying out the pulling up on the pedal movement (instead of the usual push down)- my muscles probably aren't used to that movement and didn't have any preparation beforehand or stretch afterwards. They tell me off at my age if I don't stretch them.

gretaboy - I hear you. yes it was wet and yuk but I still rode and enjoyed it.

One of the "lolly pop" men at the local private school an I had a good laugh as we waited for the school kids to cross as parents abused each other used 4WD's and the odd people mover as battering rams and nearly run each others kids over so that their little Johny or Jenny woundn't catch a cold by getting wet. It realy wasn't that wet.

Oh well they might have been running late due to the blackout we had this morning.

The rest of the ride was pleasant - I was even humming when I got to work: the guys think I am a little nuts and they are probably right but its Friday so who cares.

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